Editor’s Note
Pandora, the world’s largest jewelry retailer, is accelerating its push into the lab-grown diamond market. The company is expanding its synthetic diamond offerings across key collections and launching them in several new countries, underscoring a significant shift toward sustainable alternatives in the industry.
The world’s largest jewelry retailer, Pandora, is actively pushing forward with the commercialization of sustainable synthetic diamonds.
Danish jewelry manufacturer ‘Pandora’ is expanding sales of lab-grown diamonds by adding synthetic diamonds to three product collections and launching them in three new markets.
Pandora announced on August 15 (local time) while reporting its first-half results that it plans to start selling synthetic diamonds in Mexico, Brazil, and Australia from the end of this year. Pandora is already selling synthetic diamonds in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, with a 2-carat synthetic diamond ring priced at $4,450 (approximately 5.94 million won).
Pandora stopped producing natural diamonds in 2021 due to controversies over human rights violations in mines and factories and their high carbon footprint. With a starting price of $290 (approximately 390,000 won), lab-created diamonds are significantly cheaper, aligning with the company’s strategy focused on affordable jewelry.
Growth prospects are also positive. According to a 2021 Statista report, the global synthetic diamond jewelry market, valued at $6.6 billion (approximately 8.8 trillion won), is expected to grow at an annual rate of 8.4%, faster than the 5.6% annual growth rate of the mined diamond market. However, the size of the synthetic diamond market remains extremely small in comparison.
According to Pandora, the world’s largest jewelry seller, demand for synthetic diamond jewelry is very high. Although lab-created stones accounted for only about 1% of first-quarter revenue, it is the fastest-growing segment at Pandora despite limited distribution.
Pandora’s synthetic diamonds have a carbon footprint only one-twentieth that of a similar-sized mined gemstone because they are produced using renewable energy. Pandora sets the lab-grown stones using recycled silver and gold.
The new collections are scheduled to go on sale at 700 stores worldwide, including Australia, by the end of this month. Pandora will begin selling some collections in Mexico and Brazil in October and plans to launch the full collection in those markets early next year.
Natural diamonds did not account for a large portion of Pandora’s business. Before banning the use of mined stones, it sold 100 million diamond jewelry pieces annually, but now sells only about 50,000 pieces per year.